It was my 23rd birthday. Like every other year, my aunt prepared a present for me. It was something hand-made, just like always. And then I saw a sweater that she had knitted for me. My first thought was: "Oh, no, not another ghastly sweater!" but, of course, instead of that I said: "Oh, thank you. It's lovely, just what I wanted".

So I lied. What would have happened if I hadn't lied? Nothing well, that's for sure. But there is also the possibility that I would have made everything simpler if I had just told the truth. She would have finally realised that I didn't like her gifts and maybe she would have changed the presents she had been preparing for me.

Nevertheless, lying or the pure ability to deceive other people is an essential part of life. Lying means we want to deceive someone. If we weren't trying to make someone think or feel something that they wouldn't otherwise think or feel, manipulation would have never become such a cunning craft. In other words, if you influence someone's opinions or thoughts you are manipulating them. But many parts of life have manipulation as their basis. If we couldn't influence other people's thoughts and feelings, life as we know it would be impossible.

Most sport, for example, is based on deception. If the footballer at the yesterday's game hadn't made the goalkeeper think that he was going to shoot in the opposite side of the net, he probably wouldn't have scored the goal. Entertainment too, depends on deception. We are certain that the people on the stage are not really Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. In many cases we enjoy being deceived. If the film-makers hadn't designed special effects, we would have been greatly disappointed while watching some of today's contemporary films.

Think about everyday life. What would it really be like if, during history, people had had to tell only absolute truth every time? What would have happened to courtship, family life, advertising? If we had been totally realistic, our children would have never heard about Santa Clause. You have to admit, that would be a real pity. Deception seems to be a natural part of life. We need to get people to do certain things all the time and we deliberately don't tell the truth, or we tell only part of the truth. The question is, when does not telling the whole truth becomes a lie?

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